Cyprus bans travel from eight African states on new Covid-19 concerns

Cyprus on Friday said it was banning arrivals from a number of  African states, including South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, following the detection of a new Covid-19 variant.

The island’s Health Ministry said the travel ban applied to persons who had travelled from, or through, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Botswana over the past 14 days.

The ban does not apply to Cypriot, EU nationals, nationals of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or permanent Cyprus residents provided they carry a negative 72 hour PCR test and are tested again upon arrival. They will also have to quarantine in specially-designated hotels for a 10-day period, the Health Ministry said.

No cases of the new variant have been detected on the island, it added.

By late Thursday, Cyprus had recorded 131,951 cases of Covid-19 since its detection on the island in March 2020, and 590 deaths. [Reuters]